Local Blogs

About this blog: I am a perpetually hungry twenty-something journalist, born and raised in Menlo Park and currently working at the Palo Alto Weekly as education and youth staff writer. I graduated from USC with a major in Spanish and a minor in jo... (More)

About this blog: I am a perpetually hungry twenty-something journalist, born and raised in Menlo Park and currently working at the Palo Alto Weekly as education and youth staff writer. I graduated from USC with a major in Spanish and a minor in journalism. Though my first love is journalism, food is a close second. I am constantly on the lookout for new restaurants to try, building an ever-expanding "to eat" list. As a journalist, I'm always trolling news sources and social media websites with an eye for local food news, from restaurant openings and closings to emerging food trends. When I was a teenager growing up in Menlo Park, I always drove up to the city on weekends with the singular purpose of finding a better meal than I could at home. But in the past year or so, the Peninsula's food culture has been totally transformed, with many new restaurants opening and a continuous stream of San Francisco restaurants coming south to open Peninsula outposts. Don't navigate this food boom hungry and alone! Feed me your tips on new chefs and eats and together we'll share them with the broader community. (Hide)

Mountain View: French bakery to replace Drunken Lobster

A native of France is bringing three pastry chefs from Paris to Mountain View to open a bakery at 212 Castro St.

Laurent Pellet, who hails from Lyon, France, is behind the bakery, Maison Alyzee.

He bought the Castro Street space from the owner of seafood restaurant Drunken Lobster, which closed in October. The restaurant added pizza to its menu last year, and the location will continue to serve just pizza until Pellet closes for renovations at the end of the month.

Maison Alyzee will serve traditional French pastries, fresh-baked bread, coffee and lunch items like sandwiches and salads. Pellet is sourcing some ingredients and equipment from France. ("The butter is a no-brainer," he said.) There will also be a small selection of French wines.

This is Pellet's first venture in the food industry. The Menlo Park resident moved to the Bay Area from France in 2011 to start an intellectual property licensing company, which he ran for the last six years. He said his interest in baking lies in creating a quality product — not just the baked goods themselves, but the overall experience of the bakery.

"It's not only about the baking; it's about providing a memorable customer experience to the people who come," he said.

Pellet said he's been working on the bakery project for four years. He's convinced three top French pastry chefs to move here to help launch the bakery.

The ultimate goal is to open several Maison Alyzee locations on the Midpeninsula and San Francisco, Pellet said.

Pellet named the bakery for his youngest daughter. He hopes to be open in late January.

Posted by reader,
a resident of Shoreline West,
on Nov 21, 2017 at 6:49 pm

When writing up these press releases or notices of new restaurants, i think it might be nice to give the background of the principal people involved, in this case, Laurent Pellet, and what experience he has with this and what other buisnesses or jobs he has done in the past, and how long and how he is related to the city of Mountain View in the past, along with an interview of him and his thoughts of the neighborhood, the city, the other bakeries (in this case), etc. What do you think, Elena?

Posted by john,
a resident of Old Palo Alto,
on Nov 30, 2017 at 12:41 pm

What happen to the City of Mountain View, why there is so many french bakeries open at Downtown Mountain View, it is not going to do any good to the area, some bakeries are gonna close due to the completion and it will hurt the area. How can the City of Mountain View allowed to open 6 bakeries within 2 block of Castro St. It's just not right. Business owner will leave the city when the economic downturn and the downtown Mountain View will become goast town again like the 90s.